Poll: House GOP's Obama Lawsuit Could Backfire By Turning Out Dems

Democratic voters are more motivated than Republicans to back their candidates after the House GOP authorized a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, a new poll shows.

The McClatchy/Marist poll found that 88 percent of Democrats said the lawsuit, which challenges some of Obama's execution actions on Obamacare, made them more likely to vote for a Democrat in the midterm election. Republicans, by comparison, were 78 percent more likely to vote for a GOP candidate.

Among the ideological bases, liberals were 72 percent more likely to vote for a Democrat because of the lawsuit, according to the poll, while conservatives were 63 percent more likely to vote for a Republican.

Overall, 58 percent of voters said the House should not sue Obama over his executive actions. Democrats were almost uniformly against it (87 percent oppose; 8 percent support), while Republicans were more divided (57 percent support; 34 percent oppose).

The poll, conducted from Aug. 4 to 7, surveyed 806 U.S. registered voters. Its margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.